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Guardians of the Brand
You could say that Spirit Aerosystems Inc., divested from Chicago-based Boeing in 2005, began its solo life with a brand hangover. Boeing is, of course, a leader in the aerospace industry. Everyone knew Boeing. Manufacturers that worked with Boeing saw it as a trustworthy company with a history of product quality. Job seekers saw it as a knowledgeable, innovative employer that they wanted to be part of. When Spirit became a separate company, its mission and internal processes changed little. But suddenly, it was no longer Boeing; it was Spirit Aerosystems. The promising recruits who used to line up to work for Boeing didn't know Spirit Aerosystems. It was essentially the same company, but with a much less powerful brand. "We went from being an employer of choice for a lot of skill sets to being really an unknown entity," says Martha Webb-Jones, Spirit's senior manager of HR. "A lot of people didn't even know Boeing had a division in Wichita [Kan.], even though we were their largest division outside of the Seattle area." So the company began molding its own brand ("Dream big. Make it fly."), which sought to convey many of the same characteristics that Boeing's did: trustworthiness, innovation, an organization that hired the very best. Webb-Jones says the company wanted the new brand to help get job prospects as excited about Spirit as they had been about Boeing. However, there was a wrinkle: Spirit had recently outsourced its recruitment processes to The RightThing, a recruitment-process outsourcing firm headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. This meant The RightThing would be making first contact with Spirit's recruits; it would be the one presenting this new brand to prospects on Spirit's behalf. "Your brand is shaped every time anyone from your company interacts with anyone else, and that presents a challenge when a company wants to outsource," says Marcia Hoeck*, president and CEO of Hoeck Associates, a strategic branding firm located in Toledo, Ohio. "The way a person answers the phone is part of your brand. The responsiveness and attitude of HR is part of your brand. The wording of benefits communications is part of your brand. Outsourcers may take over some or all of those things for a client, and it's up to the client to make sure that their brand is being conveyed properly -- that the outsourcer does those things the way the company itself would do them." Outsourcing can be a great strategic tool for HR, allowing it to be flexible and freeing staff to focus on more strategic issues. However, handing tasks to a group outside of the company can be a double-edged sword. The client organization can easily lose a measure of control over how it is represented, and the disconnect is greater when the outsourcer doesn't truly understand who the client is as an organization. The only way to protect the brand's integrity is to make sure the outsourcer understands exactly how the client wants to present itself, and to monitor communications to make sure they look and feel as if they are coming from the client itself -- and not from a third party.
Avoiding a Disconnect Webb-Jones recalls that The RightThing was involved in Spirit Aerosystems' rebranding effort right from the start, sitting in on the initial discussions with the company's creative firm, says Webb-Jones. It was essential that the outsourcer "get" what Spirit was all about, as a company and as an employer. Its staff would need to talk to applicants as if they were part of Spirit, and presenting information to them in a way that looked as if it came from Spirit. "We think of them as an extension of our internal team," says Webb-Jones. "It has to be that way, if it's to work." Accordingly, The RightThing customized its applicant-tracking system to fit seamlessly into a frame on Spirit's MakeItFly.aero Web site, matching colors, styles and fonts. All paperwork goes out on branded Spirit letterhead. The phone scripts and e-mails used by The RightThing were written by Spirit. Webb-Jones says she checks up herself, test-calling the system and soliciting feedback from hiring managers to determine how "authentic" the experience feels from beginning to end: Does it feel like Spirit? Or does it feel like someone else? So far, anecdotal reports from applicants and hiring managers suggest the process is "very authentic." Even so, Webb-Jones says, formal candidate surveys are slated to begin this year so Spirit can get a firmer grasp on how well the outsourcer is meshing with its culture. This kind of "checking in" is essential to maintaining brand integrity when outsourcing, says Laurie Barnes, a principal for workforce communication and change in the Chicago office of New York-based Mercer HR Consulting. "What can happen in these relationships is that organizations take what is provided by the outsourcer, rather than getting in there and customizing things for themselves," she says. "What the outsourcers offer is good stuff, but they have to use something that is going to work for everyone. Many organizations just accept these tools as part of how they deliver their brand, and the message they send ends up being disconnected." Of course, not everything can be customized, says Mike Wright, HR outsourcing product development leader for Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire, Ill. After all, he says, it's hard to "brand customize" the tone of health-insurance documents.
"Mission-Driven" Still, there are elements that companies can -- and should -- customize on just about any communication, such as logos and colors. And, Wright adds, keep in mind that there are many intangible aspects to a brand that have less to do with what is done and more to do with how it's done. "Some companies' brand cultures are more about self-empowerment and some are more about service," says Wright. "One organization may tell us, 'If an employee calls you and wants your customer service representative to do something for them that they could do themselves over the Web, try to direct them back to the Web.' Another organization may say, 'If an employee calls you, deliver excellent customer service -- and do it for them if they want you to.' " When most people think of "brand," says Hoeck, they assume it refers to the visual "look" of a company's products and communications. That's certainly a big part of it, she says, but brand can also encompass character, personality and values. A company's degree of self-reliance versus hand-holding is as much of a part of brand as is the logo. Debbie Walkenhorst, regional vice president of HR at SSM Healthcare in St. Louis, which operates 20 hospitals and is affiliated with the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, describes her organization's brand as "mission-driven," adding that many job applicants are drawn to SSM specifically because they believe in what the company is "about." Conveying the intangible is a larger task than just making sure the logo is positioned correctly on the letterhead. "Our company's mission is, 'Through our exceptional healthcare services, we reveal the healing presence of God,' " says Walkenhorst. "The two key elements there are 'exceptional' and that we're faith-based. The people who handle our recruiting have to truly understand that." In June 2008, SSM began outsourcing its recruiting to RPO provider Pinstripe, headquartered in Brookfield, Wis. Walkenhorst says SSM got the ball rolling by providing Pinstripe with a written "brand manual" that detailed every way in which brand elements such as logos and taglines could and could not be used. Then, SSM emphasized the mission-driven aspect of the company and made it clear to its outsourcer that "mission" was an important part of the message. "Most people are most intrigued by having a position with SSM because of the mission. Using that was definitely one of our recruiting strategies," she says. The company wanted Pinstripe to sell prospects by explaining -- confidently, knowledgeably and enthusiastically -- how each job is a part of the company's larger mission. The positions themselves can be found at any healthcare provider, says Walkenhorst. What makes SSM distinct -- and what the company wanted fully conveyed to job prospects -- were its brand values. Pinstripe handles SSM's recruiting from job requisitions all the way through onboarding. The vast majority of the application and screening process happens via the Web and phone, so SSM wanted to make sure that Pinstripe's contacts at those points matched the brand. The Web site's job application is seamless; across the top, even on the jobs screen, is the company's mission. Pinstripe drafted phone scripts under SSM's supervision to ensure the phone experience would be consistent and made sure the application and screening portion of its Web site prominently featured SSM's logo and mission statement. "They use the same words we would, and are actually more conscientious in customer service than we were internally," says Walkenhorst. "The candidates believe they are talking to SSM. It's a seamless process." To make sure that brand integrity is being maintained, SSM's marketing department checks in on Pinstripe, monitoring the jobs Web site and test-calling the system to ensure the process and tone "feels" right. Marketing staff listen for the tenor of what's being said, and make sure that phone scripts are being adhered to. Most of this was a natural fit, says Walkenhorst, adding that Pinstripe "got" SSM's brand right away. "We're very mindful of our brand," says Walkenhorst. "We couldn't work with an outsourcer who didn't understand that." And the outsourcer needs to understand it, says Hewitt's Wright, because brand is shaped regardless of proper understanding. The only question is: In which direction is it being shaped? "All organizations have a brand of one sort or another with their employees, whether they intend to have one or not," says Wright. "If you don't pay attention, the brand reputation you end up with might be a negative one." Spirit Aerosystems' Webb-Jones says one key to protecting the company's brand when it's in the hands of a third party is to create as seamless a team as possible -- to take that outside group and make its members feel as if they're inside the company. "[The Right Thing employees] have Spirit Aerosystems e-mail addresses," she says. "They introduce themselves as representing Spirit Aerosystems on any call. We had the entire account team here for several days of very intensive cultural training; they toured the site, met key Spirit leadership, learned about our history, our culture and our values. It's very, very important to us that they understand the company before they go out to represent us." So far, Webb-Jones is satisfied that the outsourcing team understands Spirit and represents it as well as the company itself would -- which is nothing less than vital. "[Brand is] very, very important to us -- more so than we used to appreciate, because we had worked as part of a company that was so entrenched," she says. "We took the value of a solid brand for granted, but we soon realized that your brand -- your reputation in the market -- is what differentiates you when you're out competing for scarce talent. It's what people know you by."
* Editor's Note: Hoeck is the author's mother.
March 16, 2009 Copyright 2009© LRP Publications |
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